In depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Devil Within Her (1975)

Introduction:

This is one of those movies
with a bunch of different names. It’s also known as Sharon’s Baby, I Don’t Want
to be Born, It Lives Within Her, or simply Evil Baby. That’s right folks, it came out in the middle of the
horror movie craze that encompassed evil children and possessions by the devil.
Is this a wonderful hunk of cheesy good fun, or one of those movies that slogs
its way to the finish. All I can say is that the plot contains an evil dwarf
and a man beheaded by a shovel-wielding infant.

Summary:

You’d think that Lucy
Carlesi (Joan Collins) would be skipping through London with her husband Gino
(Ralph Bates) now that they have a healthy baby boy in their lives. But alas,
Donald Pleasence is in the movie, so you know things are going to get sinister.
Turns out that back when Lucy used to be a stripper, she spurned the advances
of a little person named Hercules (George Claydon). The frustrated man cursed
her, saying that her first born would be evil! And wouldn’t you know it, the
curse comes true with the baby growing abnormally fast and scratching everyone
in sight. Has Lucy gone mad? Can her friend Mandy (played by a badly dubbed
Caroline Munro) help with her awesome ‘70s fashion sense? Or will the helpful
Sister Albana (Eileen Atkins) be able to use holy powers to purge the infant of
Satan’s wicked ways?

Good Points:

Takes the premise of the
evil baby and just runs with it

The whole cast is committed
to making an entertaining film

Moments of pure cheese make
this a hilarious viewing experience

Bad Points:

Uh, yeah… the main
antagonist is a possessed baby

Actual horror or terror is
no where to be found

The 1970s fashions, hair and
decorating will be the scariest thing for some viewers.

Overall:

No, this isn’t a good movie,
but it is a really fun one. I love that the baby looks like he’s too busy
drooling on himself to kill anyone. The music is so dated and mod that it
hurts. Then there’s the scenes where the dwarf appears wrapped in a blanket and
grinning in the playpen. Hilarious stuff! And once you try to imagine what a
baby welding a shovel would look like the whole thing makes for fun viewing on
bad movie night.

Scores
(out of 5)

Visuals: 3

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 2

Music: 2

Direction: 3

Entertainment: 4

Total:3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional
thoughts to this review.

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About Me

I'm a writer who loves movies, books, video games and music. Wow, that's pretty generic eh? Been a staff writer for DVD Verdict.com and animeondvd.com. I worked at a video store for nearly 10 years. Still working on genre fiction both short and novel length.